The Hard Road Ahead
by aceman67
Summary: A year after the climactic battle that finally rid the galaxy of the threat of the Reapers, the Civilizations of the galaxy still picking up the pieces, and counting their dead. Commander Jill Shepard, her ship and crew still missing, still hasn't given up hope that they can be found.
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Keep going Liara! One foot in front of the other, keep going no matter what! _She thought to herself as she ran down the battlefield towards the Reaper beam. To her left she caught Garrus ducking under gunfire from a Marauder; who was quickly taken out by another marine. Ahead of her Shepard was sprinting towards the beam, dodging explosions in her path with ease that comes with experience.

A brilliant, blinding flash of light from an explosion nearly knocked Liara from her feet. She looked up and saw an APC flying through the air and Shepard sliding under it as it rolled through the air before coming crashing down.

A second explosion stops her and Garrus in their tracks, staggering them both.

"Get down!" Garrus yells, pushing Liara hard before diving in the other direction as a tumbling MAKO, sent flying by an unseen third explosion, sails through the air towards them both.

A split second after the MAKO lands it explodes, washing Liara in flames that quickly overload her barriers, peppering her with shrapnel, causing her to cry out in pain. She struggles to get to her feet as two armor-clad hands grab her arm and pick her up to bring her to cover. Liara looks up at Shepard, trying to convince her that she is ok, despite being covered in blood.

"Normandy! Do you copy?" Shepard yells into her comm. "I need an Evac. Right now!"

"We're—aking heavy lo—up here, Commander." Joker responds, his transmission garbled. Shepard checks over Liara's injuries while still keeping a hand on the com-unit in her ear.

A high pitched whine of engines over powers the explosions and gunfire of the raging battle as the _Normandy _descends down through the skeletal remains of a building, setting down and opening its shuttle bay.

With Liara arm draped over her neck, Shepard makes her way to the shuttle bay's gangway while being covered by several marines.

"Here, take her." Shepard says, handing her off to Garrus, who looks just has hurt but still able to stand on his own.

"Shepard…" Liara cries out, pain showing through in her voice.

"You got to get out of here!" Shepard tells her.

"I'm all right, Shepard…" Liara says, trying to convince herself more than Shepard.

"Don't argue with me, Liara." Shepard tells her.

"You're not leaving me behind!" she retorts.

"No matter what happens…" Shepard says, walking up the gangway towards her. "You mean everything to me, Liara. You always will." She continues, placing a hand on Liara's cheek, wiping away some of the blood along with a stray tear.

"Shepard, I…" Liara begins to say, as Shepard steps away and starts walking down the gangway. "I am yours."

Shepard smiles, then turns towards the beam, seeing the glowing orange eyes of Harbinger behind it and scowls.

"Go!" Shepard orders, and then runs back into the fray as the shuttle bay closes.

"We're good to go Joker." Garrus says into his comm-link. "Come on, let's get to med-bay, man, is Dr. Michel going to be pissed." He says, helping Liara to the elevator.

"_Normandy, we've got a destroyer bearing down on our port side, see what you can do about it!_" a garbled comm message said.

"Roger that _Shanghai._" Joker responds.

"Thanix cannons are fully charged." EDI states in her matter-of-fact tone.

"Joker, get us into position. EDI, let loose when you have a firing solution." Ashley Williams orders, her hand resting on Joker's head rest while holding on to a hand rail on the ceiling.

"Firing now." EDI says with a somewhat sinister grin on her face. "Target destroyed, anyone up for seconds?" She calmly asks.

"_Holy shit, she did it. This is the Admiral. We've got reports that someone made it to the Citadel. We need to give them time to get those arms open. All Fleets: Converge on the Crucible. Protect it at all costs._" Admiral Hackett orders, his voice sounding over the _Normandy_ comm.

"Another time EDI, Joker, you heard the old man; get us into covering position with the rest of the fleet. I'll be in the CIC. Pick your targets, don't get cocky, I know you too well." Ashley orders and walks out of the cockpit.

"When have I ever been cocky Ash?" Joker yells back to her, causing Ashley to shake her head.

"I have on record 123 different occurrences…" EDI begins to recite.

"Ha ha EDI."

"Traynor, how's the ground team?" Ashley asks, making her way around the large hologram of the _Normandy_.

"Dr. Michel reports that Garrus will be fine, and that Liara will be fine in a day or so. We're also heavy 12 additional marines, Doc says they'll pull through as well."

"Good, any news on the Citadel?"

"No ma'am. I hope it doesn't take too much longer, the comm chatter I'm getting is… We're losing this fight, Ma'am." Samantha says, looking at Ashley with fear in her eyes.

"But we're still in it. If anyone can pull this off, it's Shepard." Ashley says, putting a reassuring hand on Sam's shoulder. "Don't worry about the big picture. Just focus on your job and trust in everyone else to do theirs."

"Aye aye, Ma'am."

"Commander Williams!" a voice from across the CIC called.

"What is it Copeland?"

"The Citadel, the arms are opening!" Ensign Copeland, getting a subdued cheer from the room.

"_This is it everyone, the arms are opening…" _Admiral Hackett reports.

"The Crucible is moving in for docking." Samantha says, changing the _Normandy_ hologram to show the Citadel and Crucible.

"_Ten seconds to contact…"_

"The Crucible has docked." Copeland says, looking down at his console. "Now what?" he asks.

"We wait, and we do our jobs, focus people, this isn't over yet." Ashley orders while making her way back to the cockpit.

"You know, for a giant reaper killer super-weapon, that thing has surprising maneuverability." Joker jests has Ashley steps up behind him. "Think they'll let me drive it when this is over?"

"You get us out of here in one piece Jeff and I'll ask Hackett myself." Ashley promises with a slight grin. "EDI, do you know what's going to happen?"

"We knew when we were constructing the Crucible that it was a massive exotic energy generator. Now that we know that the Catalyst is the Citadel, I believe that it will be used as a focusing lens and amplifier. As for what will happen…" EDI says, pausing. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"That's reassuring." Joker says sarcastically. "What's the plan to get them off the Citadel?"

"I don't know Jeff. I don't think there is one." Ashley says solemnly.

"Commander, there's a massive buildup of energy on the Crucible, something's happening." Samantha says, running up to the cockpit.

"_All fleets! The Crucible is armed. Disengage and head to the rendezvous point._" Hackett orders.

"What about Shepard?" Joker asks, looking up at Ashley.

"_I repeat: Disengage and get the hell out of here!" _Hackett says before Ashley could respond.

"Joker… It's time to go." Ashley orders.

"Damn it." He says, knowing he's leaving his friend behind. He reluctantly manipulates the ships helm and takes the _Normandy_ into FTL.

"The shockwave is approaching rapidly!" EDI exclaimed.

"Jeff get us out of here!" Ashley orders, strapping herself into the port navigation station.

"I know!" He says raising his voice over the growing din of alarms. "Adams! Start shunting heat from the engines into the I.E.S., dump every bit of juice we have into the engines!" He yells into the intercom.

"_Coming your way Joker!" _Adams responds over the intercom.

"All hands, strap yourselves in!" Ashley orders over the ship-wide com.

The deck starts to rumble as the ships engines are pushed well past their maximum. Sparks and fires start erupting from consoles and power junctions all over the ship.

"We have reached theoretical maximum velocity." EDI reports. "The shockwave is still approaching, impact in 3… 2… huuunnn! Critical errorrrrrrrr…" EDI involuntarily stammers as her body convulses, then goes limp.

The deck bucks under everyone has the ship is tossed out of control, dropping out of FTL, lights flickering off and on, errors sounding everywhere. Explosions can be felt beneath the deck plating

"_A.I. Core Offline. Critical Failure." Normandy_'s Artificial Intelligence reports over the growing din.

"What the shit?! EDI?!" Joker cries out. "Ash, I'm losing helm control and I'm flying blind!" Joker yells frantically, hitting a switch opening the forward viewport armor shutters giving a view of a tumbling star-field.

"We dropped out in a planetary system…" Ashley says just before being interrupted.

"_Joker, drive core offline, breaking engines won't engage, I can get you RCS but that won't stall our momentum." _Adams reports from engineering.

"I've stabilized our flight path but I'm still blind here." Joker informs Ashley, who's going over her navigation console.

"There's a habitable planet off our port, come one-four-five degrees." Ashley orders, sending the information Joker needs to make a planetary decent.

"You know this isn't going to be a nice landing, right?" Joker says, turning to look at Ash, pausing for a moment on the still form of EDI's body.

"Take us in Lieutenant." Ashley says in a commanding tone. "All hands, assume crash positions!" she orders over the intercom.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

_May 4__th__ 2187 – Calgary_

If I said I was doing fine, I would be lying.

Seriously, who would be fine after all this? Billions and billions dead. Whole planets and solar systems laid waste. The Four Horsemen had their day in the sun, and I'm still here.

Doctor Chakwas says that I'm still coming to come to terms with the fact that the _Normandy_ is still missing. I know what she is really thinking. Serve with someone long enough, and you can tell when someone is faking a smile, keeping what they are really feeling held back. You can see it in their eyes. I can probably expect a call from a psychiatrist soon, get told that what I'm feeling is normal, that I should be looking forward to the new world that I helped make possible with the Reapers gone.

Normal, isn't that a load of shit. Who's normal anyways, I know I'm not. Hell, I convinced every space faring species in the galaxy to essentially abandon their home worlds to come to Earth and save mine, on the off chance that the Crucible could stop the Reapers, and a third of the ones who came won't be going home. Over a hope and prayer. Ruthless calculus and all that.

Even after all the battles, all the death, I keep seeing the look in Liara's eyes as the _Normandy _took her off the battlefield in London. That is what hurts the most, that's what's keeping me up at night.

But it's that same look that keeps me going. They're out there, I know they are.

"You have an incoming communication." A computerized female voice says, catching myself off guard staring into the bathroom mirror. _When did I get wrinkles under my eyes?_ I think to myself before splashing water on my face and walking out to the desk in the living area and hit the flashing button on my comm-terminal.

"Admiral Hackett, or should I say '_Councilor_ Hackett', if the rumors I'm hearing are true." I say with a playful tone while sitting down at the desk.

"_Only partially true, Parliament asked, I haven't said yes._" Hackett said with a tired inflection to his voice, despite the slight grin on his face. _He looks more ragged now than he did during the height of the war._

"I'm sure discussing council politics isn't what you called for Admiral. How can I help?"

"_I need you on the next shuttle to Vancouver, Commander. We've found something interesting on Titan. I'll fill you in on the details when you get here. Hackett out._"

The shuttle rocked slightly, jostling the occupants. Shepard found herself getting onto a packed shuttle with four other marines, their armor too shiny for them to be seasoned troops. _Gotta love the rooks._ Shepard thought to herself, entering in commands into her omni-tool, changing programming for her combat drone, Rex, who silently floated around the cabin making chirps at the shuttles occupants.

"Rex, how's your targeting accuracy now?" Shepard said aloud. In an instant, the spherical drone returned to its mistress with break neck speed.

"Accuracy improved by three-point-four-four-five percent." A mechanical voice reported rapidly, then turning to a private who had snoozed off and shined a targeting laser between her eyes. The marine next to her elbowed her ribs, startling her awake, only to be startled further by the drone.

"Rex, behave yourself." Shepard ordered, causing Rex to power down while the other marines had a chuckle at their others expense.

"You ask her." A marine said quietly in a hushed tone.

"Are you nuts, I'm not asking her that." The other responded. "You do it."

"Ask me what, private?" Shepard asked, not taking her eyes off her omni-tool's read out display. Both privates sat up straight in unison.

"Ma'am, we heard…" One marine began.

"We heard on Rannoch that you stared a Reaper down." The other finished.

"Yep. Told it off too." Shepard told them, manipulating her omni-tool bringing up a recording of the event, which Rex displayed for them.

"…_Tell your friends we're coming for them. [whine of targeting laser, followed by explosion] Never mind, I'll tell them myself._"

"Negative Charlie-two-six, we don't have EOD personnel on board. Recommend you get to a safe distance and detonate." One of the pilots said, his voice filtering into the aft cabin. Shepard raised her eyebrow, walked up to the cockpit, and hit transmit on the comm-panel.

"Charlie-two-six, belay last and stand by." Shepard ordered.

"Commander?" the confused pilot asked, looking back at her.

"I'm a Combat Engineer, Lieutenant; explosive ordinance disposal is in my job description." She explained. "Set us down at five hundred meters from the site, then hover at three hundred meters." Shepard told him, walking back into the aft cabin, opening a storage locker and grabbing her armor.

Pulling her N7 hoodie over her head, the occupants of the shuttle got a clear view of the scars peppering her back, scars she received thanks to the explosion from the crucible's main power conduit blowing up in her face. "Keep staring Corporal, you're liable to make a lady blush." She said to the marine next to her who stared a bit too long in an unimpressed tone.

"Sorry ma'am." He said, turning his head.

With her armor on, she turned to the marines with her. "Any of you Biotic?" She inquired.

The Corporal she admonished raised his hand. "I am ma'am."

"Good, you're with me." Shepard said, hitting the hatch controls and jumping out three meters from the ground. "What's the situation?" Shepard asked the three marines running towards them.

"We found an unexploded javelin mortar shell. Must've been left over from when the Reapers made their push to take out Kamloops about a half click south from here." A Sergeant reported.

"Great, civi population center, kiloton warhead. Bad mix." Shepard said to herself. "Ok, you three in the shuttle, tell the pilot to stay put, my orders."

"Aye Ma'am." The Sergeant said, snapping her a salute before running off to the shuttle. "Was that an N7 on her armor?" He asked one of his squad.

"Not just any N7, that was Shepard." One of them told him. The Sergeant looked back before getting on the shuttle at Shepard calmly walking towards the warhead.

"No shit." The Sergeant said.

"What's your name Corporal?" Shepard asked.

"Jenkins, ma'am. Matthew Jenkins." He told her, getting a sideways glance from Shepard, but only for a second. _Big galaxy Jill, just a coincidence._ She told herself.

"Well Jenkins, you know why you're here right?" She asked him, kneeling down at the warhead, which was about the size of Shepard herself. Using her omni-tool, she activated a scanner, bathing the device in orange light, then activating a holographic facsimile.

"You're insurance. When I tell you 'now', you slap the strongest stasis field you can on the warhead and you run for the shuttle." Shepard looked at the Corporal in the eye for a moment. "You understand?" She asked.

"Yes, Commander." He said, swallowing hard.

Turning back to the hologram, Shepard manipulated it, bringing up magnified displays of its various circuits and components. "Ok, power conduit to the detonator is fused…" she mumbled to herself, flicking the display of the power unit away, bringing up a diagram of the detonator computer board, holding her omni-tool on top of the warheads casing, while manipulating the holographic display, the omni-tool's fine-tuned mass effect field manipulators changing circuit paths.

Then displays on the hologram started flashing red, one by one. "Fuck." She exclaimed, the blood draining from her face. "Jenkins!" she yelled, getting up and starting a dead run for the shuttle. "NOW!" she ordered, a white-green bubble forming over the warhead and Jenkins running after her, even passing her.

Not seeing the tree root, Shepard's foot caught it and it sent her sprawling forward to the ground. She rolled onto her back, bringing her hand to her ear piece. "Lift off now!" She ordered the shuttle, who quickly followed.

Then the next few seconds surprised her. Jenkins started glowing blue. Purplish vortices formed on his hands before thrusting them towards the warhead, forming a large singularity at its base, then he kneeled over Shepard, forming a barrier over the two of them, his face contorted in effort.

The explosion was deafening, flattening trees all around them before everything being sucked back towards the blast. Looking up, Shepard saw a trickle of blood come out of his nose before he collapsed on her, exhausted.

Shepard gently pushed him off her, rolling him onto his back. The ground around them was charred black, smoking. A groan caught Shepard's attention, who quickly activated her omni-tools medical scanners before sighing in relief that other than signs of exhaustion, Jenkins was ok.

"That was fun." He said, breathing hard, before both of them broke out laughing.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

_2186 – Crucible Platform_

"Your time is at an end. You must decide." The child said, in a youthful voice that hid a massive, sinister entity, the sound of which reverberated through Shepard's body and very mind.

Shepard stood there, broken, bleeding. Before her, three choices. Three paths. All of which would alter the galaxy as she knew it entirely, forever. The enormity of the decision weighted her mind like a ton of bricks as the energy beam in front of her flashed momentarily, forcing her to shield her eyes from the brightness.

_I will not become what I've spent the last years of my life fighting to stop._ She thought. _And I won't force an unnatural existence on the galaxy._ Her train of thought continued._ Who am I to make that decision for them? They should have the right to choose for themselves._

With only one choice remaining, Shepard steels herself. _Let's end it, then._

"Let's get this over with." Shepard told the child.

One step after another, she moved forward, towards the main power conduit for the Crucible, limping in pain, her legs shaky, threatening to give out. _This isn't how I thought it would end._ She thought to herself. _Would have loved to known my parents._ She thought, remembering about the long search she started just after graduating from the Academy.

Stopping for a moment at the start of the ramp leading up to the conduit, she looked back at the child. Its face now contorted in anger. _That's right. I'm ending this, you son of a bitch. _Shepard thought to herself, allowing herself to smile briefly in smug satisfaction, then started up the ramp.

In front of her stood the conduit. Taking aim, she fires her weapon, continuing to move forward.

"_You did good, child. You did good. I'm proud of you."_ Anderson's last words echoed through her mind.

She fires again, a tear running down her cheek.

"_Commander, I'm afraid I won't be joining you again." _Thane tells her. _No, I'll be joining you._

Again, she pulls the trigger.

"_Would have liked to see how it ends. Sure you'll do fine without me."_ Mordin says optimistically.

Firing again, Shepard smiles sorrowfully, her bottom lip quivering.

"_Shepard-Commander, I must go to them. I'm... I'm sorry. It's the only way."_ Legion says, making her wince with guilt.

"…_only now do I feel alive. That is your influence." _EDI tells her.

"I am so sorry EDI, Legion." Shepard says aloud. Full of regret, she fires.

"_I love you. Now let's do what needs to be done." _Liara says, giving Shepard the drive to carry on.

Her face soaked with tears, Shepard empties her clip into the conduit, causing the transparent casing to crack, and shatter.

With a bright flash, Shepard knows no more.

_Citadel, Shalta Wards_

Dr. Karin Chakwas, her head filled with fear and terror, looks to her side, eying the four grotesque 'Marauder' Turian creatures that are escorting the small group of civilians she found herself with. Not knowing where these Reaper troops were taking them; _Or why, for that matter. _She thought to herself, opting to keep quiet. Next to her, an infant being held by a young mother starts to cry, drawing the attention of one of the Marauders.

"Hey, shhh…" Karin said, cooing to the young child, putting a reassuring arm around the distraught mother. With the child quieted, the Marauder turned around, making a mechanical grunt.

"Where are they taking us?" The mother whispers.

"I don't know…" Karin responds quietly, noticing the young woman's shoulders are visibly shaking in fear. "What's your name?" She asks, trying to distract her, attempting to calm her down.

"Emma." She answers, her shoulders stop shaking somewhat.

"Emma, My name is Karin. I'm a Doctor with the Alliance." She tells her. "I don't know where they're taking us, but for the moment, I think we're going to be ok. They haven't done anything to us, and I don't hear any gunfire anywhere else." Karin continues, trying to sound as reassuring as possible, even though memories of her time with the collectors keep coming to the forefront of her mind.

A Marauder stops the group in front of a wall and makes a mechanical sounding command. The wall begins to move, rearranging itself and opening up to a large room, filled with many other people.

Their 'guides' began pushing their group in with the rest of them. Standing apart from the others, Karin spots Commander Bailey and heads over to him. "Commander, do you have any idea what's going on?" She asks him.

"The hell if I know Doctor." He says, scrunching up his face in annoyance. "But I don't think they want to have a tea party, that's for sure." Bailey continued, attempting a humorous tone. "But seriously now. Why aren't they taking us to be processed, or hell, why not just kill us. This is totally against their usual M.O."

Not getting a response from the Doctor led him to look right into her eyes, which seemed to stare right through him.

"Hey, I'm sorry. Shepard told me what the collectors did; I shouldn't have brought it up." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder, her eyes snapping back to attention.

"Sorry, I was just…" She started to say before the floor bucked under them, sending everyone to the floor, causing Karin to land on top of Bailey.

"What was that?" She asked

"I think the arms are opening." He responded, getting up into a crouch looking around to see what the Marauders were doing, but couldn't see any of them. "Well, I'll be damned. Gomez! Ti'al! See if you can find a way out of here. Our gracious hosts have seen fit to leave the party; I don't intend to be here if they come back. We have to get these people to safety." He ordered to two C-Sec officers, a human and an Asari.

"Yes sir!" they both answer in unison.

Gasps of surprise arose from the civilians, getting Bailey and Karin's attention. Looking to the left at what they were pointing at left them dumbfounded.

Through the window along the right side of the room was Earth, with the massive battle raging on above it. The tone of the conversations between everyone quickly turned to hopeful optimism.

"I think I got the door lock disengaged, help me pull it open." Gomez asked. Working together, both Gomez and Ti'al slowly open the door with their hands until something clicks and the door quickly opens on its own with Ti'al standing in the center of the door frame.

Right in front of her stood a Marauder. In the time it took her to blink, the former turian monstrosity raised its rifle and fired. Gomez looked on in horror as the back of Ti'al's head erupted with a sickening purplish mist, her body going limp and falling to the floor causing everyone to scream and run for whatever cover they could find.

Immediately after hearing the gunshot, Bailey ran towards the door; seeing the reaper soldier turning his rifle towards Gomez, he slides down on the floor and kicks the legs out from under the creature. Seeing the reaper go down, Gomez grabs for the rifle, wresting it from its hands. With three quick shots to the head, the creature is dead. Bailey looked up at him, seeing a smile of satisfaction and fierce determination in his eyes.

"We need to move, more of these things will be on us soon." Bailey says.

"Any idea where we are? I didn't recognize the corridor when they brought us in here." Gomez asks.

"We're in the Sur'vel district; I work at a dress shop near here." A female salarian chimes in.

"Alright, let's get a move on." Bailey said, starting a quick jog up the corridor.

Suddenly, the entire section goes pitch black, the only light shining was through the bulkhead windows from the battle raging outside. Moments after the floor heaved under them, sending everyone to the floor with grunts of pain. The baby begins to wail as she wriggles on the floor, her mother unconscious next to her, a nasty bruise forming on her forehead.

With the only light to be seen coming from the window, everyone looks on as all allied ships begin to jump out of the system.

A bright orange-red flash fills the windows, forcing everyone to shield their eyes for a brief moment.

When the wall of orange-red light passed through the room, no one knew what was happening. Some ran to the nearest wall away from its advance to no avail. When it passed, lights on the Citadel turned themselves back on.

"My god…" Gomez exclaims, staring, utterly dumbfounded, at what lay before him. Kithoi ward was split in two, only attached by thin (relatively speaking) beams of metal, and Teyseri ward was set ablaze.

"It came from the top of the Citadel Tower!" One of the civilians told Bailey.

"Armando…" Karin began. "We have to check it out." She stated, as if it was a certainty. "If anyone was responsible for that, it has to be Shepard."

"I know." He nodded, calling up a map on his omni-tool. "Come on, there's a c-sec detachment near here; we can find a shuttle there as well as get these people to safety."

"Are you sure you're going to need that?" Bailey said, turning the pilots chair around to face the aft cabin, seeing Karin checking the sights on an M-15 Vindicator. She just gave a half smile, slotted a fresh thermal clip and released the slide in a satisfying 'click-click'. "Never mind." He said in response. "Every marine a rifleman, not that we saw any reapers on our way here…" he mumbled under his breath as Karin came up to the cockpit and sat in the co-pilots chair.

Crossing a last few things off the pre-flight checklist the Shuttle roared to life and lifted off the ground, leaving the C-Sec hanger at speed. Avoiding debris, both from reaper and allied forces, the shuttle neared the tower.

Or what was left of it.

A third of top structure was gone, blown away from what Bailey thought was the top down. Like if someone detonated a bomb on the roof of a building. Behind the tower was what he could only guess was the crucible. The hulking structure was now partially detached, two of its arms severed, the others bent out of shape. "The force required to bend something like that… I don't know if someone could have survived that?"

"Even so, I owe it to the Commander to at least look." Karin said, pangs of guilt rising up over not pushing harder for going back to the _Normandy SR-1_'s crash site and looking for bodies, including Shepard's.

"Yeah, I hear ya. I owe her my life; least I could do is look for her."

"C-Sec Shuttle_, this is _Hammer 234_, we're conducting a search of the citadel tower, request you back off to a distance of one half click."_ An alliance pilot ordered over the comm.

"Damn, they're quick." Bailey said before hitting the transmit button to respond. "_Hammer 234_, This is Commander Bailey of C-Sec, I have a doctoron board, request to assist in search."

"_Denied. Back off one half click."_

"Enough of this shit." Karin said, absolutely furious, reached for the comm-panel. "Pilot, Name and rank. Now." The doctor ordered.

"_Flight Lieutenant Richards."_

"This is Doctor Karin Chakwas, Commander Alliance Navy, authenticator Bravo-Gamma-Lambda-Four. You can take your order and shove it Flight Lieutenant, and if you don't like it, you can take it to Admiral Hackett personally." She said, hoping that invoking the name of the Admiral would ease things along.

"Remind me not to piss you off doc. Oh, what'ya know, they're backing off; I'm taking us in." Bailey said. "There's an opening big enough for the shuttle over there, I'm landing in there."

The shuttle passed through a mass effect barrier keeping the vacuum of space at bay and landed on the deck with a soft thud. Exiting the shuttle, Karin takes point, shouldering the butt of her rifle while Bailey followed with a pistol in hand.

"I've never seen this part of the tower." Bailey remarked. Coming up to a door, its controls flickering, Bailey activated his omni-tool and began hacking the lock.

When the door opened, the smell hit them first. Karin up-turned her nose while the blood drained from her face while Bailey doubled over, his hands on his knees, and wretched up whatever he ate last. Before them was a long corridor, its walls smeared with blood of varying colors from different species. The floor was covered in mutilated corpses with Keepers scurrying about, milling through the pile.

With only one direction to go, they moved forward down the macabre corridor. At the other end, they find a door half-open, with flickering lights flittering through. With both of them pulling on either side of the door, they manage to get it open. Bailey, moving to the front now starts moving debris out of the way.

"Just where in the hell are we?" Bailey asked no one. To their left and right, large panels, rippling with electricity, raise up and down, but what was once in a sequential order, is now random.

"Let's keep going, there's a light a head." Karin says, turning on her rifles flashlight, illuminating the walkway a head of them.

At the top of the ramp, they are greeted with a panoramic view of the severely damaged Citadel.

"Hold up, I see some bodies up there." Bailey said, moving himself to the lead. Coming up on the first body, Karin lets out a gasp.

"It's Admiral Anderson." Bailey says, kneeling down next to him. Shining his flashlight across the room, he centers in on the other body; that of a man in a tailored suit lying on his back with a gun in his hand. A trail of red flowed away from the side of his head. "Who do you think that was?" He asked, moving over to that side of the room.

"The Illusive Man." Karin answered solemnly, not even bothering to look over where Bailey was pointing. She knew that suit, how it boldly said '_I own you'._ Next to Anderson's body, she notices a trail of blood leading away, towards the console facing the panoramic window. Acting on a hunch, she activates her omni-tool and runs a DNA-analysis on a sample.

"What the hell…" Bailey said, turning TIM's head to the side. "He looks like a husk." A small short beeping draws his attention towards his companion.

"I thought as much." Karin said, a smile showing on her face now, despite what probably meant. "Shepard was here." Karin continued, pointing to a trail of blood on the floor leading to the console. She started walking towards it when the subtle of sliding of metal and a quiet shuffle grab their attention, both of them turning about and leveling their weapons on the source of the sound.

Before them was a lone keeper, staring silently. It tilts its head to one side, and starts walking towards them, heedless of the fact that they had weapons drawn on it.

It stops in front of Karin and points one of its hands at her right arm, staring at her right in the eyes. She lowers her rifle and activates her omni-tool.

Placing its hand inside the orange holo-interface of Karin's omni-tool, it starts to flicker before a window appears. Various words start flying across the window in different languages Karin recognizes as Asari, Turian, Salarian and a half dozen more before settling on Human English.

_**FOLLOW**_

The keeper turns around and heads back to the wall it came from. Karin turned to Bailey and looked at him questioningly, getting a shrug in response. They both follow the keeper.

Practically crawling through the keeper tunnel, it was almost difficult to keep up with the insectoid custodian of the Citadel. It stopped at what looked like a dead end and was staring at them, waiting for them to catch up.

Now standing next to their guide, the Keeper manipulated Karin's omni-tool again.

_**WAIT**_

A glowing white light began to shine from the edges of the floor and ceiling after a wall sprung from the floor, sealing them up with the keeper in a small cube. The sudden jerking motion of the 'box' they were in nearly sent them sprawling to the floor.

In what seemed to be a few minutes, the box's ceiling opened up to an absolutely brilliant star field, filled with the debris of starships and reapers, but around them was flames and destruction. The exploded remains of machinery and structure were everywhere. To the right there were a half dozen keepers bringing something out of the ruble.

The keeper with Karin and Bailey reached up and touched Karin's omni-tool and another word appeared.

_**LIBERATOR**_

Karin could hardly believe it as her heart jumped in her chest.

"JILL!" she screamed as she ran towards the bloody body the keepers were gingerly carrying.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

**_2187 – Vancouver_**

**_Systems Alliance Military Command HQ_**

Despite the widespread destruction that the city suffered only a year earlier, Jill marveled at the progress being made. Buildings were sprouting up everywhere. Progress like this was being mirrored all over the planet, including Calgary, the city where she grew up.

Walking up to the building, she could see workers on scaffolding guiding a large sign hanging from a crane depicting the insignia of the Systems Alliance to where it would be attached to the building.

Taking in the delightful aroma of the coffee in her hand, she doesn't notice that almost everyone either double-takes just to make sure that it really was Shepard they saw, or to snap a salute.

"You can stop looking at me like that corporal." She said without turning around.

"Wha-? Like what ma'am?" Jenkins said, stopping for a second having been caught off guard by the question. He quickly steps up his pace to catch up.

"That uncomfortable look people get when they notice that someone is forgetting something." Shepard explains stopping at the top of the stairs leading into the building's main entrance. Taking a second to take a sip of her coffee, she continues. "If I returned every salute and wave I get, I'd throw my shoulder out."

"Yes, ma'am, but that's not it." He answers, a little too quickly. Getting an inquisitive look with a raised eyebrow, he continues. "I just didn't think when I got out of my bunk this morning that I'd be called in front of the old man—I mean Admiral Hackett." He stammered out, his face flushing with embarrassment at the faux-pas.

Laughing, Shepard just shakes her head and pats Jenkins on the shoulder.

"While personally I know the Admiral would think that nickname is pretty funny, professionally I think it would be best if we kept that to ourselves." She said, turning around and heading into the building.

"I think you're right, ma'am." Jenkins said, a little flustered and then stops half way up the steps to Alliance Headquarters. "Commander, why am I being called in here?"

"You want my Professional or Personal response to that?" Shepard said with a smirk. "Professionally, that's above our pay grades. Command says come hither, you snap to it." She continues, taking a sip of her coffee. "Personally, how the hell is someone with your biotic ability still a corporal?"

Jenkins turns his head, breaking eye contact, his face turning a very slight shade of red in embarrassment. Shepard just stood there, with her hand on her hip looking down at the corporal from her position a few steps above him.

"When my biotics manifested when I was thirteen, the alliance said I could have a future serving. When the Reapers attacked, my colony instituted a draft, and because my ability was on record, my draft number was in the first call. I was sent to the Officer Candidate School they set up on the Citadel after Earth fell. I washed out. 'A complete lack of leadership ability' they said." He admitted finally.

"Sounds like someone screwed up and sent you where you should never have been sent. Not everyone has what it takes to lead. That's nothing to be ashamed of." She told him. "Now, let's go see what the Old Man wants.

* * *

**_SSV Aurora – Aurora Class Frigate Prototype_**

**_Hephaestus Shipyards - Titan_**

**_CIC – Security Cam 12_**

**_***Video Data Corrupt – Audio Only***_**

**Commander Bertram**: And this is the CIC, I'm sorry, Combat Information Center. Any and all combat data is centered here for the Commanding officer.

**Unknown Female**: This is so awesome. Are you sure I'm allowed to be here?

**Commander Bertram**: I got a week's leave approved for someone for this little favor.

_Indistinct audio alarm_

**Commander Bertram**: Emergency flash message? 'Fifth Fleet general order, Reaper forces in Sol System, all forces retreat to…' Oh shit. Shit.

**Unknown Female**: Eric, what's going on?

**Commander Bertram**: Rebecca! Sit down there, strap yourself in! Don't touch anything!

_Comm-Panel activation audio notification_

**Commander Bertram**: Lydia, spin up the drive core and bring the power-plants online, we're leaving.

**Engineer Moody: **_On it boss._

_Door opening_

**Flight Lieutenant Stephenson: **What's going on?

**Commander Bertram: **Fifth Fleet's ordered us out of the system, get us out of this dry-dock, set course for the relay then plot a jump to rendezvous point theta in Exodus.

**Recording Ends**

**Further Data Corrupt**

"Telemetry recovered from the ship's data banks shows that forty-three seconds after they left dry-dock, a Reaper took out their propulsion and crippled the ship. The _Aurora _crashed on Titan two minutes later." Hackett explained.

"So, you found this ship, mostly intact on the surface of Titan. Just what was the _Aurora_?" Shepard asked.

"The _Aurora_ was supposed to be the first in a line of rapid response Frigates. It incorporated design aspects taken from the _Normandy_ SR-1 and SR-2, but sacrificed stealth in favor of defense, firepower and logistics. It was supposed to get to a trouble spot, get boots on the ground, and secure the system." A woman next to Hackett explained.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Shepard asked.

"Lauren Faust, Nashan Stellar Dynamics. I worked on the original design of the _Normandy._" She introduced herself.

"I'm glad that the _Aurora_ was found, but I'm confused with what this has to do with me?" Shepard asked.

"The Asari cruiser _Cybaen_ is helping our engineers recover the vessel, and you're going to oversee its refit." Hackett told Shepard, getting up from his desk, circling around it and sitting on the front edge. "Then you're taking command, _Captain."_ He said, putting emphasis on the last word.

Shepard stood there, stunned.

"You were due for a promotion anyways, and I think everything you've done warrants it." Hackett explained, shaking Shepard's hand.

"I don't know what to say, sir. Thank you." Shepard said, a little flustered.

"Oh, we're changing the name of the class of ship. It'll be known as _Monument-_Class, and the _Aurora _is being renamed to the SSV _Admiral David Anderson._"

Shepard's composure visibly faltered, as she fought to hold back tears.

"The Admiral wouldn't like that." Shepard said with a small chuckle. _What's with all this fuss?_ She pictured him saying in her mind.

"Then he shouldn't have been a damn hero." Hackett said with a smile, then pressed a button on his desk's comm-panel. "Send in Corporal Jenkins. You're free to go Lauren."

"Corporal Jenkins reporting as ordered." Jenkins said, snapping a crisp salute, then stood at attention.

"At ease." Hackett said, returning the salute. Jenkins loosened his stance, but still appeared on edge. "That was an impressive display of Biotics today, corporal."

"Thank you sir."

"I also took the liberty of pulling your file. Not many soldiers who received the Star of Terra during the Reaper War are still alive. So I was pretty surprised to see numerous disciplinary notes in your service jacket. 'If Corporal Jenkins could only keep his mouth shut, he'd be a hell of a soldier' was one of those notes."

"You seem to have a problem with authority. You follow orders just fine, but you can't keep your opinions to yourself." Hackett continued, then turned to Shepard then smiled. "Reminds me of a young officer before she got a little noteworthy during shore-leave on Elysium."

"Corporal, I'm putting you on detached duty under Captain Shepard." Hackett said. "Captain, he's your problem now. This young man has potential, see to it he realizes it." Hackett ordered. "Dismissed."


End file.
